^ The Christmas Tree: published by Darton and Clark, London. "The ceremony of the Christmas tree, so well known throughout Germany, bids fair to be welcomed among us, with the other festivities of the season, especially now the Queen, within her own little circle, has set the fashion, by introducing it on the Christmas Eve in her own regal palace." Book review of The Christmas Tree from the Weekly Chronicle, 14 December 1844, quoted in an advert headlined "A new pleasure for Christmas" in The Times, 23 December 1844, p. 8.
The Christmas Tree Company makes a tree stand called Santa’s Solution. We enjoyed how festive this model was painted. We also liked how sturdy the construction is and that’s probably why the manufacturer is willing to back it with a lifetime guarantee. The exterior is made of steel, while the interior is lined with impact-grade plastic. The plastic tub on the inside can hold up to 1.5 gallons of water.
Live trees are typically grown as a crop and replanted in rotation after cutting, often providing suitable habitat for wildlife.[citation needed] Alternately, live trees can be donated to livestock farmers of such animals like goats who find that such trees uncontaminated by chemical additives are excellent fodder.[110] In some cases management of Christmas tree crops can result in poor habitat since it sometimes involves heavy input of pesticides.[111] Concerns have been raised about people cutting down old and rare conifers, such as the Keteleeria evelyniana and Abies fraseri, for Christmas trees.
Size: The size and width of your tree is an important factor to consider when searching for Christmas tree stands. Standard Christmas tree stands support trees up to 7 feet tall. Check the manufacturer’s guidelines to find out if a stand can accommodate taller Christmas trees. If you do have a taller tree, look for Christmas tree stands with a circular base. A stand with a wide, circular Christmas tree base provides better stabilization, preventing your room’s star attraction from tipping over while also keeping it perfectly aligned.
The Cinco Express fits in the mid-sized tree stand range. It is ideal for real trees up to ten feet tall with a trunk diameter of up to seven inches. This stand is made of heavy-duty plastic. The base features three galvanized pins in its center to hold the tree in place before final adjustments. A push-pull ratchet mechanism makes it easier to set up and take down your tree. The base has an overall diameter of 20 inches and fits two gallons of water.
Finding a sturdy stand for extra-large Christmas trees can be a challenge. Search no more and use Santa's Solution Extreme Christmas Tree Stand to support your giant Christmas tree this holiday season. Made with solid steel, this Christmas tree stand is strong and can support trees between 7 and 14 ft. tall. Comes with steel legs for extra support.

Despite the popularity of the strip and acclaim from advertisers, networks were not interested in the special.[5] By April 1965, Time featured the Peanuts gang on its magazine cover, perhaps prompting a call from John Allen of the New York-based McCann Erickson Agency.[2] Mendelson imagined he would sell his documentary, and blindly agreed to Allen's proposal: an animated half-hour Peanuts Christmas special.[5] The Coca-Cola Company was looking for a special for advertising during the holiday season. "The bad news is that today is Wednesday and they'll need an outline in Atlanta by Monday," Allen remarked to Mendelson.[6] He quickly contacted Schulz, and the duo got to work with plans for a Peanuts Christmas special.[2] The duo prepared an outline for the Coca-Cola executives in less than one day, and Mendelson would later recall that the bulk of ideas came from Schulz, whose "ideas flowed nonstop."[7] According to Mendelson, their pitch to Coca-Cola consisted of "winter scenes, a school play, a scene to be read from the Bible, and a sound track combining jazz and traditional music."[8] The outline did not change over the course of its production.[9]

Nicole is a Senior Content Specialist whose writing passion ranges from national recycling initiatives to how to find the perfect Christmas tree. She loves her dog more than most people, and she subsists almost entirely on iced coffee. When she’s not copy editing and researching for Your Best Digs, she’s usually curled up in bed with a good book or outside exploring nature.
“A really nice heavy-duty stand. We buy seven- to eight-foot trees, and our previous stand would not accommodate the larger trunks, causing me to butcher the trunk to make it fit. We purchased the large stand and no longer will have a problem with an undersized stand. I weld for a living, so I can tell you that the welds are of top quality on this stand. A touch pricey, but the lesson is that you get what you pay for.”
You can dress a standard wreath in white Christmas fashion as quick as you can say “St. Nick.” All you need to get a decorator look is an inexpensive evergreen wreath, available at garden stores and tree lots, and a can of white flocking spray. Take the project outside to ensure you don’t “dust” the unintended, and then let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Once the tree is installed, it’s hard to overemphasize how stable this stand is. In our stability testing, the Krinner Tree Genie XXL was able to max out our force gauge at 50 Newtons when testing with both small and tall trees. The tree stand even outlasted the test materials: We bent the hook on the force gauge trying to get it to tip over, and at one point we snapped the twine we had tied to the tree. The stand itself weighs 18 pounds, which you might expect to make it stable, but it actually has a smaller footprint than most of the other stands. That’s another advantage: It’s easier to store during the non-Christmas months.
Several sites that review Christmas tree stands list this Good Tidings model among their top picks. The Z9 gave it high ratings because it is rustproof, has a large reservoir, allows for quick installation, and the polypropylene body is durable and reliable. DeWhiteHome, a site specializing in everything Christmas, ranked this stand as the top tabletop stand because of the strong, rustproof screws.
Our testing also included the Contech Enterprises TS9405 Indoor Steel Christmas Tree Stand and the currently unavailable Emerald Innovations XTS1 Swivel Straight Tree Stand For 12′ Tree (also known as the 1-Minute Tree Stand). Neither was as stable as the Tree Genie XXL or the Cinco. The Emerald Innovations started to tip at 30 Newtons of pulling force, and the Contech tipped at 25 Newtons. Performance was similar with large and small trees. Both the Emerald Innovations and Contech stands have 1½-gallon reservoirs—sufficient, but the smallest among tested models.
Linus and Charlie Brown return to the auditorium with the tree, only to be scorned by Lucy for disobeying her instructions and mocked by the other girls who, along with Snoopy, walk off laughing. At his wit's end, Charlie Brown loudly asks if anybody knows what Christmas is all about. Linus says he does and, after walking to center stage, recites the annunciation to the shepherds from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, verses 8 through 14, as translated by the Authorized King James Version:
The Cinco Express fits in the mid-sized tree stand range. It is ideal for real trees up to ten feet tall with a trunk diameter of up to seven inches. This stand is made of heavy-duty plastic. The base features three galvanized pins in its center to hold the tree in place before final adjustments. A push-pull ratchet mechanism makes it easier to set up and take down your tree. The base has an overall diameter of 20 inches and fits two gallons of water.

Great decoration for the holidays. Everyone who's seen it loves it. Taking away one star b/c the base doesn't go together very well. The main trunk of the tree is threaded at the bottom. The threads go through the top plank of the base and screw into the bottom plank. However, the threaded bit is too long, so it makes the whole thing wobbly if you tighten it all the way. I had to unscrew the trunk to the point that the bottom of the threads were flush with the bottom of the base, which made the top plank very loose. Still, If you don't move it around too much it's not a big issue. The blanket actually holds the base planks in place pretty well.

The 30" round Christmas Tree Mat is composed of two non-woven fiber materials separated by a patented barrier media. It is lightweight and can be easily cleaned. It is designed to protect hardwood and carpeted floors from spilled live tree stand water and resulting stains as well as hardwood scratches associated with a trimmed tree during the holidays. Can be used with live or artificial trees.
The special opens and closes with a choir of children, culled from St. Paul's Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California, performing "Christmas Time Is Here" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".[18] One of the singers, Candace Hackett Shively, went on to become an elementary school teacher, and sent a letter of gratitude to Schulz after he announced his retirement in 2000.[18] In the letter, she recalls recording the choir at Fantasy Studios and going out for ice cream afterwards, while also noting that she tells the story to her grade-schoolers each holiday season.[16] The recording sessions were conducted in late autumn 1965, and were cut in three separate sessions over two weeks. They often ran late into the night, resulting in angry parents, some who forbade their children from returning; consequently, numerous new children were present at each session.[22] The children were directed by Barry Mineah, who demanded perfection from the choir. Mendelson and Guaraldi disagreed, desiring the "kids to sound like kids"; they used a slightly off-key version of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" in the final cut.[22] Children were paid five dollars for their participation. In addition, the children recorded dialogue for the special's final scene, in which the crowd of kids shout "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!"[22]

This lightweight plastic stand weighs less than 3 pounds and holds trunks up to 7 inches. You’ll need two people to install your tree—and occasionally you’ll have to pick the tree up a second time in order to slam it back down into the stand with enough force to get the spikes in the base to dig into the trunk—but you can’t beat the price. The reservoir holds two gallons, so you might even be able to skip a day of watering with this thing.

Of course, wreaths are not just for Christmas, and are a lovely addition to give your house a cheerful and welcoming look at any time of year. Fall foliage makes for striking thanksgiving or autumn wreaths, artificial floral blooms in pastel hues are great for Easter, and fresh green leaves, eucalyptus, or cheerful summer flower wreaths are stunning during any of the warmer months.
When shopping for the right Christmas tree stand, there are a few specifications you must take note of. Most importantly, how large of a tree will the stand accommodate? If you like to make full use of your vaulted ceiling with a large real tree, make sure you can fit your 12-foot-tall tree in the stand base. Likewise, artificial trees generally have skinny poles that will only fit in specific models. We make it clear what type and size of tree are best for each stand.
Balsam Hill's designers carefully craft our trees to mimic nature using site visits and cutting from live trees to guide them. We offer three types of foliage options that are made from either PE or PVC material. While some trees use one type of foliage exclusively, others may use mix of foliage types to achieve a particular look. The specific mix is specified on each product detail page in the section that describes the tree's foliage.
When Charlie Brown complains about the overwhelming materialism that he sees amongst everyone during the Christmas season, Lucy suggests that he become director of the school Christmas paegent. Charlie Brown accepts, but it proves to be a frustrating struggle. When an attempt to restore the proper spirit with a forlorn little fir Christmas tree fails, he needs Linus' help to learn what the real meaning of Christmas is. Written by Kenneth Chisholm A reference to the animated television special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) based on the comic strip Peanuts by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000), in which the title character Charlie Brown picks an unattractive Christmas tree to decorate. The selection of the tree represents a protest against the commercialization of Christmas.
“This is seriously the most beautiful artificial tree I’ve ever seen. I love all the different textures, colors, and pine-cone accents. The lights are a nice, warm white. The tree is beautiful enough on its own, even without ornaments. Worth the money. It is amazingly full as well. Those who said it was thin did not take the time to fluff it properly, which does take a bit of patience, but is worth the effort. Love it!”

Second, it needs a sizeable reservoir of water to keep the tree moist and “alive” (or at least prevent it from drying out and losing all its needles) for as long as possible. A dry tree is not only ugly and messy, it’s a fire hazard. Though this is rare, it does happen—according to the National Fire Protection Association, between 2009 and 2013, Christmas trees were the source of an average of 210 home fires each year, according to a National Fire Protection Association. So how much water is enough? The National Christmas Tree Association notes that, “Generally, a tree can use up to one quart of water per day for each inch of stem diameter.” That’s 1½ gallons each day for a 6-inch-diameter tree. Larger water capacity is always better, so you’re not constantly worried about watering the tree.

The program's script has been described as "barebones", and was completed in only a few weeks.[13] In the days following the special's sell to Coca-Cola, Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez met with Schulz in his home to expand upon the ideas promised in the pitch. Mendelson noted that on the previous Christmas Day he and his spouse had read Hans Christian Andersen's "The Fir-Tree" to their children.[8] Schulz countered with the idea that there be a tree with the spirit of lead character Charlie Brown.[14] Mendelson suggested they employ a laugh track, a staple of television animation, but Schulz rejected this idea immediately.[14] He felt strongly that the audience should not be informed on when to laugh.[13] They spoke at length about creating an official theme that was neither jazz nor traditional to open the program. Schulz wanted a part of the special to feature the character of Schroeder performing Beethoven, and Mendelson combined this with the inclusion of Guaraldi's "Linus & Lucy" number.[14] Schulz penned the script for A Charlie Brown Christmas, with Melendez plotting out the animation via a storyboard. His storyboard contained six panels for each shot, spanning a combined eighty or-so pages.[14]
One of the Krinner’s other major advantages is the ability to handle a wide range of trunk sizes. With the claws cranked all the way down, this stand will hold a tree with a trunk as small as 1 inch in diameter. The maximum trunk diameter it will accept is 7 inches. That gives you a lot of flexibility on tree sizes. When testing on our smaller tree, with its 3.5-inch diameter trunk, some other stands’ screws could barely extend far enough to meet the trunk (and they wouldn’t work with a tree any smaller than that).
Schulz's main goal for a Peanuts-based Christmas special was to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.[7] He desired to juxtapose this theme with interspersed shots of snow and ice-skating, perhaps inspired by his own childhood growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota.[7] He also created the idea for the school play, and mixing jazz with traditional Christmas carols.[7] Schulz was adamant about Linus' reading of the Bible, despite Mendelson and Melendez's concerns that religion was a controversial topic, especially on television.[9] Melendez recalled Schulz turned to him and remarked "If we don't do it, who will?".[2] Schulz's estimation proved accurate, and in the 1960s, less than 9 percent of television Christmas episodes contained a substantive reference to religion, according to university researcher Stephen Lind.[10] It could also be worth noting that the Linus's recitation of Scripture was incorporated in such a way that it forms the climax of the film, thus making it impossible to successfully edit out.
The special influenced dozens of young aspiring artists and animators, many of whom went on to work within both the comics and animation industries, among them Eric Goldberg (Pocahontas),[39] Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc., Up), Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E),[1] Jef Mallett (Frazz),[38] and Patrick McDonnell (Mutts).[40] The show's score made an equally pervasive impact on viewers who would later perform jazz, among them David Benoit[41] and George Winston.[31] More directly, the special launched a series of Peanuts films, TV specials (many of them holiday-themed) and other works of entertainment.
A final drawback: The Krinner is expensive. At about $90, it is definitely on the high end of the tree stand price scale, but it’s significantly better than all the other stands we tested. We feel its multiple advantages make it worth the price—and a lot of the positive Amazon reviews are written by customers who hesitated to spend so much but ultimately felt it was worth it.

When decorating for the holidays, many make it their goal to diffuse Christmas spirit through every room. And while the Christmas tree typically takes center stage, it’s the garlands, wreaths, teardrops, and swags that help to spread holiday cheer throughout the rest of a home. These accents make a home feel lush, inviting, and most of all, festive.

Balsam Hill is the top-selling artificial-tree brand in the US, and it offers an extraordinary array of top-quality trees in three ranges of realism. After viewing and handling examples in person, we consider its Realistic line comparable overall to National Tree’s Feel Real series. Both have a mix of realistic PE branch tips and plasticky PVC filler branches. And both do a great job of fooling the eye. An exact apples-to-apples comparison isn’t possible (due to differences in lighting options, for example), but Balsam Hill’s trees tend to feature more branch tips and light bulbs at a given height-width combination.
^ Fritz Allhoff, Scott C. Lowe (2010). Christmas. John Wiley & Sons. His biographer, Eddius Stephanus, relates that while Boniface was serving as a missionary near Geismar, Germany, he had enough of the locals' reverence for the old gods. Taking an axe to an oak tree dedicated to Norse god Thor, Boniface chopped the tree down and dared Thor to zap him for it. When nothing happened, Boniface pointed out a young fir tree amid the roots of the oak and explained how this tree was a more fitting object of reverence as it pointed towards the Christian heaven and its triangular shape was reminiscent of the Christian trinity.
The 30" round Christmas Tree Mat is composed of two non-woven fiber materials separated by a patented barrier media. It is lightweight and can be easily cleaned. It is designed to protect hardwood and carpeted floors from spilled live tree stand water and resulting stains as well as hardwood scratches associated with a trimmed tree during the holidays. Can be used with live or artificial trees.

Hi reader in the U.S., it seems you use Wikipedia a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but this Friday we need your help. We’re not salespeople. We’re librarians, archivists, and information junkies. We depend on donations averaging $16.36, but fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $3, the price of your coffee this Friday, Wikipedia could keep thriving. Thank you.

Our designs offer a combination of the most popular artificial Christmas tree features at affordable price points. Whether you need a tree with a slim shape, LED lights, or realistic foliage, you will be able to find one that the whole family will love - no compromise required. For decorating inspiration and gift ideas, visit the Tree Classics blog. There we show you how you can maximize your tree and holiday décor with practical tips and tricks. When done browsing, easily place orders through our convenient online store.

^ Senn, Frank C. (2012). Introduction to Christian Liturgy. Fortress Press. p. 118. ISBN 9781451424331. The Christmas tree as we know it seemed to emerge in Lutheran lands in Germany in the sixteenth century. Although no specific city or town has been identified as the first to have a Christmas tree, records for the Cathedral of Strassburg indicate that a Christmas tree was set up in that church in 1539 during Martin Bucer's superintendency.

Several sites that review Christmas tree stands list this Good Tidings model among their top picks. The Z9 gave it high ratings because it is rustproof, has a large reservoir, allows for quick installation, and the polypropylene body is durable and reliable. DeWhiteHome, a site specializing in everything Christmas, ranked this stand as the top tabletop stand because of the strong, rustproof screws.

A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer such as spruce, pine, or fir or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The modern Christmas tree was developed in medieval Livonia (present-day Estonia and Latvia) and early modern Germany, where Protestant Germans brought decorated trees into their homes.[1][2] It acquired popularity beyond the Lutheran areas of Germany[1][3] and the Baltic countries during the second half of the 19th century, at first among the upper classes.[4]